Flame rocket



June 21, 1960 R. w. GREENE FLAME ROCKET Filed sept. 29. 1955 INVENTOR. Robe/* W Greene BY n TTORNE Y 2,941,468 Patented June 2l, 1960 FLA-ME ROCKET Robert W. Greene, Redlands, Calif., assigner to the Unlted States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Filed Sept. 29, 1955, Ser. No. 537,594

1 Claim. (Cl. 102-49) (Granted under 'Iitle 35, U.S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States of America for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention is ydirected -to a rocket for propelling a charge of liquid fuel. More particularly it is directed to a rocket for propelling a charge of gelled gasoline within an easily ruptured container. More specifically, the invention is `directed to a rocket having a relatively large charge of gelled gasoline within a cardboard container which is equipped with an impact fuse that is armed While the rocket is in iiight.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the rocket complete. Figure 2 shows a section through the rocket head at 22 of Figure 1. Figure 3 shows a front View and Figure 4 a rear View of the rocket. Figure 5 shows a transverse section of the rocket head at 5-5 of Figure 1.

The rocket head is composed of the container bottom portion 12 and cover 14. The cover includes long flange '16 which extends down over the container bottom. Both the cover and bottom have stepped down portion 16 and |18 such that the entire assembly has a uniform diameter and include `an internal parting line at 20. When this type of structure is used it is convenient to first assemble the container and to iill it through the igniter opening in the cover.

It is equally possible to construct the cover without the stepped feature with the result that the container bottom extends up to the cover top 14 and the parting line is 4adjacent said cover. In such case, the container can be completely filled before the cover is applied.

The container 10 is preferably constructed of an impregnated cardboard or other fibrous material that has -been made waterproof and resistant to the gelled hydrocarbon iller.

'I'he container 10 is clamped in position between rear plate 22 and front plate 24 by means of tie rods 26. This produces a structure which is capable of supporting the filled cardboard container in flight yet does not prevent its being ruptured on impact.

Front plate 24 has a central opening through which projects the impact fuse 34. This fuse projects through the cover 14 into the igniter 32 which may be filled with white phosphorous. Fuse 34 -is armed in ight and lires the white phosphorous igniter on impact. The white phosphorous ignites the gelled gasoline at the moment of impact and the cardboard container ruptures due to hydrostatic pressure and spreads the burning fuel over a Wide area.

The rocket is propelled by a series of 2% Subcaliber Aircraft Rocket motors 28 and has a range of from 200 to 2000 yards depending on the number of motors used and the elevation of tiring. Conventional tail surfaces 30 complete the structure. In practice a cardboard conltainer 8 4in diameter, 261/2 long and holding 51/2 gallons gelled fuel has been used.

This rocket lills a void in the range of burning fuel weapons. The typical tank type flame thrower is limited to a range of about 300 yards `and aerially dropped fire bombs cannot safely be used at such close range. The result is a range gap which the present rocket is calculated to fill. By increasing the motor power it can be made eifective up to at least 2000 yards, which represents a safe marginal distance for dropping aerial tire bombs.

I claim:

In a rocket for delivering ignited, gelled gasoline over a wide area, which rocket comprises a front body portion, an intermediate motor portion and a rear ltail portion, the improvement which comprises a cylindrical front body portion comprising two circular plates spaced vapart along the axis of said rocket, a sealed cylindrical, gelled-hydrocarbon-iilled, rupturable, cardboard container between said circular plates, a plurality of ltie rods positioned between said plates about their circumference outside of said cardboard container, said tie rods serving to clamp said cardboard container between said plates and an impact fuze positioned in the forward end of said cardboard container and projecting through `the forward circular plate.

References Cited in the lile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,325,706 Todisco Dec. 23, 1919 2,466,752 Uhl Apr. 12, 1949 2,476,117 Short July 12, 1949 2,608,931 Lauritsen Sept. 2, 1952 2,713,768 Livingston Iuly 26, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 498,458 France Oct. 20, 1919 134,948 Great Britain Nov. 17, 1919 

